Lynn Woolsey’s Political Legacy In Doubt

As Congressmember Lynn Woolsey ends her final term in Congress it’s appropriate to note that she left her mark in Washington but its far less certain that she left much of a political legacy here in the North Bay.

When the Petaluma Democrat announced that she was retiring in January after twenty years representing the North Bay, she promised not to endorse any candidate to be her successor. It’s still impossible to miss the fact that six of the ten candidates that ran for Congress in the new 2nd CD vocally identified with Woolsey’s progressive, very left-of-center philosophy.

During her years in Congress the Petaluman was always convinced that her progressive views were virtually identical to those of her Marin and Sonoma constituents.

That’s a misreading of why she was consistently reelected. The reality is that absent a scandal, almost all incumbents of both parties are easily reelected when they hail from districts in which their party dominates. It was virtually impossible for any Republican to win in Woolsey’s old heavily Democratic Marin-Sonoma Sixth District. The two Democratic insurgents who tried to upend her were underfunded and lacked any major issue that would justify dumping an scandal-free incumbent. It’s just as unlikely in for the GOP or a Democratic insurgent to prevail in new deep blue North Bay/North Coast Second Congressional District.

Woolsey’s old congressional district was environmentally-oriented, economically liberal and socially progressive, but it was never as left-oriented as she believed it was. The proof is that in the most recent June primary when it came to selecting her successor, the six candidates of the progressive left including West Marin author Norman Solomon and Marin Supervisor Susan Adams scored a combine 26.2 % of the vote.

The June 2012 primary presented an ideal poll of voters’ political orientation. Almost 75% of the North Bay/North Coast voted for someone other than a classic progressive in Woolsey’s mold.

The upshot was that Jarred Huffman easily led all of the candidates in the primary and trounced his GOP opponent, Dan Robert, in the November finals.

There is no question that Huffman is a solid liberal Democrat with a passion for the environment, but he’s not a movement progressive like Solomon, Adams or Woosley. If you doubt that statement, just ask Norman Solomon.

The new Second CD is solidly mainstream Democratic, but it’s not nearly as far to the political left as Woolsey long contended.